210 

5 , 

22 

py 1 DEPARTMENT OF INTERIOR 



ORGANIZATION OF EDUCATION 
IN THE UNITED STATES 



REPORT PREPARED FOR 

THE COMMISSION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 

TO THE BRAZIL CENTENNIAL EXPOSITION 




For Distribution at the Brazil Centennial Exposition 
1922-1923 



WASHINGTON 

GOVEKNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 

1922 



DEPARTMENT OF INTERIOR 



ORGANIZATION OF EDUCATION 
IN THE UNITED STATES 



Supplementing Exhibit 

of the 

UNITED STATES BUREAU OF EDUCATION 

at the 

BRAZIL CENTENNIAL EXPOSITION 

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 

1922-1923 



By 
DR. J. C. MUERMAN 

From Official Bulletins 
United States Bureau of Education 






D 



[ 



■WCClVtD 



ORGANIZATION OF EDUCATION IN THE UNITED 

STATES. 



STATE SYSTEMS. 

The United States is a federation of 48 self-governing Commonwealths 
each of which exercises independently all powers not specifically con- 
ferred upon the Federal Congress by the Constitution or derived by impli- 
cation therefrom. Since the Constitution does not provide for the control 
of education by the Federal Government, there is no national system; 
but the United States contains within its area 49 separate systems of edu- 
cation. 

No two of the State systems are exactly similar, yet they possess cer- 
tain common factors. For example, all States provide by law for ele- 
mentary education at public expense. The usual length of the public 
elementary school course is eight years. Children commonly enter at the 
age of 6 or 7 and finish at the age of 14 or 15. In all States school attend- 
ance during a part or all of this period is compulsory. 

Although many children enter school at the age of 6, the adoption of the 
kindergarten as a part of the school system has made it possible for over 
half a million children to begin their education at the age of 4 or 5. In 
the kindergarten there is no direct teaching in terms of reading, writing, 
and numbers, and no instruction from books. Ideas are necessary to 
understand books, and these must be gained through excursions, garden- 
ing, experimental and constructive handwork, cooperative play and the 
conversation needed to make these forms of activity intelligible. The 
kindergarten period is therefore an experience-getting period for the 
children, and it is through the working out of the knowledge gained from 
this experience that the foundation is laid for the more formal work in 
language, writing, reading, and numbers in the grades that follow. 

The name ' ' kindergarten' ' was adopted by its founder, Frederich 
Froebel, in Blankenburg, Germany, in 1840, to express two ideas con- 
cerning the education of young children — first, that education is the 
guidance of children's development rather than the imparting of in- 
struction; and, second, that this guidance must be given by an expert. 
The institution founded on these principles has been adopted in some 
degree in all parts of the world, but to a greater degree in the United States 
than in any other country. It became known in the United States 
mainly through the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia in 1876, and 
■the establishment of kinderrartens in the different cities soon followed. 



4 ORGANIZATION OF EDUCATION IN THE UNITED STATES. 

The first of these were mainly private or charitable, but as they proved 
their worth they were made a part of the school system. There are at 
present approximately 1,300 cities in which the kindergarten forms an 
organic part of the school. All of the 48 States now have laws permitting 
the use of public funds for kindergarten education, and over 100 normal 
schools and colleges provide kindergarten training courses. 

The kindergarten represents the active type of education as contrasted 
with the traditional academic type, and in demonstrating the worth of 
this type for young children it has exercised an appreciable influence upon 
the work of the primary grades. It is to its influence mainly that the 
introduction of nature study, constructive handwork, and cooperative 
games is due. In this and in other respects its work is in harmony with 
the newer ideals in elementary education. 

Pupils who do not have the advantage of a kindergarten usually enter 
the elementary grades at the age of 6 or 7. After completing 8 years, 
or 8 grades, they are eligible to enter the high school, in which the course 
is 4 years. This completes the 12 years of instruction provided in the 
general public school system of the United States. Another division of 
the 12 years called the 6-3-3 plan is sometimes adopted. This plan pro- 
vides for 6 years in elementary grades, 3 years in a junior high school, and 
3 years in a senior high school. 

The importance of the elementary grades is recognized and in most 
cities they are carefully cared for by expert supervisors. 

Public secondary schools, called high schools, offering a course generally 
four years in length, except in the junior high school, are also maintained 
in every State. The high-school course is based on the elementary school 
course and is open to graduates of elementary schools or others of equiv- 
alent preparation. 

The high school serves three main purposes. To the great mass of 
students who frequent it it offers four years of cultural and informational 
study designed to equip them for more intelligent and resourceful lives 
as citizens of a democracy. Its second purpose is to prepare students 
for various higher institutions. In the third place, a number of special- 
ized public high schools fit young people for wage earning in trades and 
industries. In general, it may be said that the high school has tended 
more and more to adapt itself to the needs of the local community by 
introducing studies of a practical and vocational nature and by allowing 
its students increasing latitude in the choice of courses to be pursued. 

The specialized public high schools are called commercial or business 
high schools, manual training, industrial trades, or technical high schools. 
Nearly every large city supports one or more of these special high schools. 

Most States maintain normal schools for the training of teachers, or a 
more or less well-developed State university, or both. The normal 
schools and certain departments of the State universities articulate with 
the public high school. 



ORGANIZATION OF EDUCATION IN THE UNITED STATES. 5 

Many normal schools have increased their facilities for training teach- 
ers, and have developed strong courses fulfilling the requirements for the 
bachelor degree. These normals are usually known as State teachers' 
colleges. 

The four-year courses of instruction are intended to give an opportunity 
to elementary-school teachers for more extensive training and also to 
train teachers for the secondary schools. So far the four-year courses of 
study have largely served the second group, primarily because many 
of the States reqiure teachers in secondary schools to have a bacca- 
laureate degree. 

Alongside the public institutions various groups and individuals have 
founded elementary schools, high schools, academies, normal schools, and 
colleges. The most extensive system of private schools is that under the 
control of the Roman Catholic Church. The total enrollment of the Catho- 
lic parochial schools is approximately 2,000,000 students (192 1). The 
entire number of Catholic schools is 8,706 with 4,760 professors and 
49,505 teachers. Other religious sects have also established institutions 
to provide education under denominational auspices. Both the religious 
schools and the private schools under denominational control parallel 
rath* closely the amount and character of the training afforded by the 
public institutions of the same grade. These nonpublic institutions and 
systems are allowed perfect freedom of development under the laws of 
the country. 

The foreign observer, noting chiefly the dissimilarities of the State 
systems, is at first inclined to think that a hopeless confusion of standards 
and organization must characterize American education. But the differ- 
ences are after all superficial rather than fundamental. The same general 
types of institutions are to be found in every State, whether they all belong 
officially to the State system or not. Their interrelations are also essen- 
tially the same. There are still certain inequalities of educational stand- 
ards, especially among higher institutions ; but these are not so great nor 
so widespread as is often believed. 

STANDARDS. 

The State educational systems have grown up independently of one 
another. If one takes account of the provisions for education made by 
a few of the colonial governments before the founding of the United 
States, the dates of establishment of the 49 systems of education have 
covered a period of something like two centuries and a half. In that 
time the social philosophy of the Nation has changed. The common 
conception of the part the State should play in fostering and con- 
trolling education has changed with it. According to a widely prevail- 
ing theory all grades of education, from the kindergarten to the uni- 
versity, should be supported and managed by the State or local gov- 
ernment. 



6 ORGANIZATION OF EDUCATION IN THE UNITED STATES. 

Wliether American education ever will achieve complete uniformity 
in standards and methods of management is open to doubt. Uniformity 
is contrary to the genius of the Nation. The Americans are an indi- 
vidualistic people. Their educational systems and institutions have 
reflected this quality. These have maintained the right to expand as 
they chose and to adapt their courses to local needs, free from hampering 
restrictions. Their freedom is, in fact, one of the sources of their 
strength. Nevertheless, it may safely be said that there is now a 
national consensus of opinion as to what the standards of admission to 
and graduation from the principal types of institutions should be, that 
the standards agreed upon coincide, in the main, with those in force in 
the corresponding institutions of other leading nations, and that they 
are already maintained by the best institutions of the United States. 
Indeed, students from abroad will find in those educational centers to 
which they will probably be attracted unsurpassed facilities for ad- 
vanced academic and professional training. 

EVOLUTION OF THE UNIVERSITY. 

THE COLLEGE. 

An explanation of the prevailing organization of higher education in 
the United States properly begins with a description of the American 
college, an institution which has no exact counterpart in any other 
country. 

Historically, the college is the oldest of American institutions. The 
first one. Harvard College, was founded in 1636 by the early English 
settlers in Massachusetts. Cambridge and Oxford furnished its proto- 
types. Following the example of these institutions. Harvard College was 
designed to give training in the liberal arts, principally Latin, Greek, 
philosophy, and mathematics. Most of its earlier graduates entered the 
Christian ministry. In fact, to supply properly trained young men for 
this profession was one of the chief objects sought in the foundation of 
Harvard and of the other colleges established during the first century 
of colonial life in the United States. Gradually, however, the purpose 
and character of the college changed. The more elementary stages of 
the subjects taught were given over to lower schools. New subjects 
were added to the curriculum. The college lost its theological bent, 
without becoming a training school for other professions. It still 
offered courses in the liberal arts, leavened more and more by the intro- 
duction of the sciences, and bestowed upon those who completed these 
courses the degree of A. B. 

Three very significant changes in the relation of the college to the 
scheme of higher education occurred during the nineteenth century. 
The first of these was the founding of the professional schools of the- 



ORGANIZATION OF EDUCATION IN THE UNITED STATES. 7 

ology, law, and medicine. Although students were, and to some extent 
still are, admitted to these schools without a previous college education, 
the tendency has been constantly growing to demand a college degree 
or at least a period of collegiate study as a prerequisite for entrance. 
The college has thus become, in certain measure, a preparatory school 
for those who contemplate a course of professional training. 

The second change to which reference has been made was the devel- 
opment within the college of departments of pure and applied science. 
By the middle of the nineteenth century the degree of B. S., granted 
for work done largely in the sciences, began to occupy a position of 
parity with the older degree of A. B. Gradually also these courses in 
science ramified further into courses in engineering. The engineering 
schools or divisions thus became coordinate parts of many colleges of 
liberal arts. 

The third and most momentous change in the status of the college 
was brought about by the establishment in connection with certain 
colleges of graduate schools on the model of the faculties of philosophy 
of German universities. The graduate schools have grown up principally 
in the last 45 vears; indeed, the movement received its first strong 
impetus with the founding of Johns Hopkins University, incorporated 
in 1S67 and opened for instruction in 1876. The graduate schools offer 
to college graduates courses leading to the degrees of A. M. and Ph. D. 
and degrees of corresponding grade in the technical branches. They pro- 
vide opportunities for advanced study in the arts and sciences and for 
research similar to those provided by the leading European universities. 

From the origin of colleges until the foundation of the graduate 
schools the college curriculum, aside from the development of separate 
courses in science and engineering, had undergone but slight changes. 
A few new subjects had been added to it from time to time. Options 
between certain studies, as, for instance, between a modern and an 
ancient language or between two elementary sciences, were slowly 
introduced. In general, however, the college program of studies was 
fixed and definite, centering about a core of Latin, Greek, and mathe- 
matics. With the growth of the graduate school and the changed social 
and educational ideals has come the introduction of many new branches 
of study. Columbia University, for example, now offers to candidates 
for the bachelor's degree instruction in 45 different subjects. Its offer- 
ings are almost paralleled by a number of other institutions. 

The prescribed course of study for the bachelor's degree has broken 
down, and there is now a general tendency to confine required w^ork 
to but two or three subjects and to allow the student much freedom 
of choice with respect to the rest of his program; or to offer various 
groups of studies organized to correlate with a single central subject 
and to permit the student to choose one of these groups. 



8 ORGANIZATION OF EDUCATION IN THE UNITED STATES. 

THE UNIVERSITY PROPER. 

The college is the nucleus from which all higher institutions of learn- 
ing have sprung. Before the nineteenth century there were no univer- 
sities in the modem sense of the word. With the rise of professional 
schools of theology, law, and medicine, most of which were outgrowths 
of colleges already established, American institutions began to approach 
university organization. The name "university" came also into com- 
mon use to designate an institution composed of a college and one or 
more professional schools each under the control of a separate faculty. 

Schools of dentistry, of various branches of engineering, of agriculture, 
of veterinary medicine, etc., are now frequently included in a single 
university. The University of California, for instance, has 19 such 
schools or divisions; the University of Chicago, 10; the University of 
Illinois, 13; the University of Michigan, 8. As each new profession 
develops, a special division designed to give the training requisite for 
it is added to the university. In this manner, schools or colleges of 
commerce, of business administration, of domestic science, of ceramics, 
and of journalism have recently been established at a number of the 
larger universities. The process will undoubtedly continue with the 
further multiplication of the professions. 

ORGANIZATION OF THE TYPICAL UNIVERSITY. 

THE COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES. 

The core of every university, except one, is the college, variously 
called the college of arts and sciences, the college of letters, the col- 
lege of liberal arts, etc. Whatever its name, its scope and character 
are everywhere approximately the same. It offers to graduates of 
secondary schools a four-year course of study, leading usually to the 
degree of bachelor of arts or bachelor of science, or some other bacca- 
laureate degree. Generally the work is in part prescribed according to 
one of two methods. Certain subjects, such as English, one or more 
modem languages, Latin, a science, history, and mathematics, are re- 
quired of all students; or the courses are arranged in groups centering 
about a single subject, and each student may choose the group which 
best suits his individual tastes and purposes. In either case, a consid- 
erable portion of his course is elective; i. e., he may select at will from 
the subjects offered by the college enough to make up the number of 
courses required for graduation. 

Collegiate instruction is carried on by means of lectures, recitations, 
discussions, laboratory practice, and various kinds of written exercises. 
In the work of the first two years and in the elementary courses in all 
subjects it has a tendency to be somewhat formal. The instructors 
assign definite tasks at each meeting of the class: A certain portion 

\ 



ORGANIZATION OF EDUCATION IN THE UNITED STATES. 9 

of the subject is to be mastered, a prescribed laboratory experiment is 
to be performed, a theme written on a specified subject, or a fixed num- 
ber of pages read. At a subsequent meeting students are tested on the 
assignment. In the later years of the course there is less formal pre- 
scription, and the student is thrown as far as possible on his own re- 
sources. His knowledge is tested by periodic examinations. 

Because of the long period devoted to elementary and secondary 
training American college students are generally older than students 
of other countries who have reached the same stage of academic ad- 
vancement. The avarage age of entrance to American colleges is be- 
tween 1 8 and 19 years, the average age of graduation between 22 and 23. 
A few colleges, however, allow students to complete the course in three 
years by taking extra work. 

THE COLLEGE OR SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING. 

Coordinate with the college of arts and sciences is the school or col- 
lege of applied science or engineering. This offers to graduates of sec- 
ondary schools a four-year course leading to the degree of B. S. in some 
division of engineering, e. g., civil, mechanical, mining, metallurgical, 
electrical, hydraulic, architectural, chemical, and sanitary engineering. 
In some institutions work in these various branches is organized in sep- 
arate schools, e. g., school of mining engineering, school of civil engineering. 
The course of study for the first year is frequently uniform for students 
in all branches of engineering; indeed, the present tendency is toward 
a still greater measure of uniformity in the early years, followed by 
specialization in the last year or the last two years. 

The school or college of engineering is, in the scheme of American 
education, an undergraduate division coordinate with the college of lib- 
eral arts, admitting students with the same preparation and giving 
its graduates the bachelor's degree. It is, nevertheless, in spirit and 
tendency a professional school, fitting young men for the immediate 
practice of their professions as a means of livihood. This fact affects 
the college of engineering in two ways. In the first place, its efficiency 
as a training school is constantly tested by the success of its graduates 
in actual professional work. It suffers the consequences without delay 
if its standards are not kept high. The college of liberal arts, whose 
purpose is to give general culture, is subjected to no such test. 

Secondly, and as a result of its professional obligations, the work of 
the engineering school is, for the most part, more concrete and prac- 
tical than that of the college of liberal arts. Not only in the extensive 
well-equipped laboratories and machine shops of the university itself, 
but in shops and factories of industrial organizations and in the field, 
the engineer in training is given an opportunity to perform those opera- 
tions by which he may later earn his living. 
14899—22 2 



lO ORGANIZATION OF EDUCATION IN THE UNITED STATES. 

Recently a tendency to lengthen the period of preparation for the 
profession of engineering has manifested itself. Several leading uni- 
versities now offer five and six year courses in the various engineering 
branches. Five-year courses, which are the commoner, include either 
a considerable amount of work in the college of arts and sciences designed 
to broaden the student's cultural training or a more extended specializa- 
tion in the branch of engineering which the student has chosen. The 
degrees of E. B., M. E-, C. E., A. E-, and Arch, are generally awarded at 
the end of these more highly specialized courses. Such degrees rank 
higher than the degree of B. S. 

Postgraduate work leading to the degrees of M. S., Ph. D., and ,Sc. D. 
in the engineering sciences is now given also at several of the foremost 
universities. 

THE COLLEGE OR SCHOOL OF AGRICULTURE- 

In 1862 the United States Congress, under the Morrill Act, made to 
each State grants of public lands, the proceeds from the sale of which 
were to form a fund for the maintenance of colleges of agriculture and 
the -mechanic arts. Later acts provided for annual appropriations by 
the Federal Government for the support of these institutions and for 
the promotion of agricultural research and demonstration. In the 
57 years since the passage of the original act these so-called land-grant 
colleges have become among the most important agencies for training in 
the technical professions. In a number of States the land grant made 
possible the foundation of a State university, and the State universities 
of 20 States are now legally designated land-grant colleges. 

The system of agricultural education in the United States has grown 
to be very comprehensive and exceedingly complex. Every State main- 
tains a college of agriculture and mechanic arts, in some cases in con- 
nection with the State university, in other cases as independent institu- 
tions. All of these institutions maintain various specialized four-year 
curricula leading to the bachelor's degree in agriculture. The most com- 
mon curricula are in fields of agronomy, horticulture, animal husbandry, 
dairy husbandry, agricultural engineering, and agricultural education. 
Practically every institution also offers the master's degree and many the 
doctor's degree in agriculture or agricultural education. 

The influence of these colleges is extended to the general public through 
the extension service maintained cooperatively by the cpllege, the United 
States Department of Agriculture, and the county. Through the exten- 
sion workers the message of the agricultural college, experiment stations, 
and the United States Department of Agriculture is carried directly to 
the farmers and to their children, who may or may not be enrolled in 
the public elementary or secondary schools. 



ORGANIZATION OF EDUCATION IN THE UNITED STATES. I 1 

Agriculture in the secondary schools is predominantly of the voca- 
tional type, administered under the Smith-Hughes Act as a cooperative 
program between the Federal Board for Vocational Education and the 
State board for vocational education. 

The typical secondary school program involves four years of instruc- 
tion in vocational agriculture. The usual organization of the curriculum 
provides for three units (the unit is a recitation period of 45 minutes 
daily for a period of 26 weeks) of mathematics, three units of social sci- 
ence, three units of science, four units of vocational agriculture, and four 
units of English. A typical course in vocational agriculture provides 
one unit of farm crops, one unit of farm animals, one-half unit of horti- 
culture, one-half unit of dairying, one-half unit of farm management, 
and one-half unit of farm mechanics. 

In actual practice the tendency is to break away from subject organ- 
ization and to organize teaching about individual farm enterprises as the 
unit, making the jobs in actual carrying out of the enterprise the basis of 
study. Under such organization the development of the home project 
becomes the guiding factor in instruction, and such course units as swine 
production, poultry production, com production, or cotton production 
displace farm crops and animal husbandry as course units. Farm shop- 
work, farm management, and marketing are taught in relation to a par- 
ticular enterprise. 

Every State has accepted the provisions of the Smith-Hughes Act, 
and Smith-Hughes departments of vocational agriculture are common in 
high schools, both rural and urban, of the country. 

In the elementary schools agriculture is not so well organized, though 
required by law in 1 7 States and prescribed in the State course of study in 
1 1 other States. Agriculture is further taught in local school systems 
in sections of practically every vState in the Union. 

A few States have rather well-developed programs of nature-study 
agriculture throughout the eight elementary school grades. The ma- 
jority of States, however, where agriculture is taught in the elementary 
schools have introduced the subject in the seventh and eighth grades 
only. 

The tendency in method is to carry the home-project method down to 
the elementary school and to develop the course through selected 
" junior" projects. The prevocational aim, rather than the vocational, 
is dominant. 

THE COLLEGE OR SCHOOL OF VETERINARY MEDICINE- 

Several prominent universities and colleges of agriculture and mechanic 
arts now maintain schools of veterinary medicine, which provide instruc- 
tion in the causes and treatment of animal diseases and in the principles 
of sanitary science as applied to live stock. The large proportion of 



12 ORGANIZATION OF EDUCATION IN THE UNITED STATES. 

the Nation's wealth invested in hve stock, the dependence of agriculture 
upon it, and the influence of certain animal diseases, notably tubercu- 
losis, upon the health of the community give special importance to the 
profession of veterinary medicine. 

The typical college of veterinary medicine offers to graduates of a 
secondary school a three-year course leading to the degree of D. V. M. 
or V. M. D. The course itself is closely prescribed. It combines instruc- 
tion in the fundamental medical sciences — chemistry, anatomy, and 
physiology — with such special branches as animal pathology, surgery, 
veterinary and medicine. Clinical instruction is given in the veterinary 
hospitals connected with the school. There is generally provision also 
for graduate work in special branches of veterinary science. 

the; coi^uege; or school of commerce. 

Among the more recent additions to American universities are the 
schools or colleges of commerce or business administration. The typical 
college of commerce offers to graduates of secondary schools a four- year 
course leading to the degree of B. S. or A. B. The first part of the course 
is largely devoted to such fundamental subjects as mathematics, English, 
natural sciences, modem foreign languages, history, and economics. 
These are followed in the last two years by the broader technical subjects 
designed to give general preparation for business life, such as various 
phases of business administration, commercial law, and advanced 
economics. 

THE COLLEGE OR SCHOOL OF JOURNALISM. 

Schools of journalism are also among the newer developments at 
several universities. These oflfer to graduates of secondary schools a 
four-year course leading to the bachelor's degree (A. B., B. Litt., B. J.) . 
The foundation of the work in the schools of journalism is largely com- 
posed of courses in the social sciences and English, which are designed 
to familiarize the student with present economic and social conditions 
and to develop his power of written expression. These courses cover 
about two years and are followed by technical instruction in the methods 
of modern journalism. This includes actual practice in reporting, inter- 
viewing, and newspaper editing. The aim of all these schools is voiced 
in the official announcement of the school of journalism of Columbia 
University. It is " to make better journalists, who will make better 
newspapers, which will better serve the public." 

THE COLLEGE OR SCHOOL OF PHARMACY. 

The schools of pharmacy, which are now included in most of the 
larger universities, usually offer courses leading to three different de- 
grees — Ph. G., Ph. C, and B. S. in Pharmacy or Phar. B. The entrance 



/ 



ORGANIZATION OF EDUCATION IN THE UNITED STATES. 1 3 

requirements are substantially the same as for those schools and depart- 
ments already described. The degree of Ph. G. (graduate in pharmacy) 
is conferred at the end of a two-year course, consisting chiefly of instruc- 
tion in botany, analytical chemistry, and pharmacy. Several States 
demand as a prerequisite for a license to practice the profession of phar- 
macist either a certain amount of practical experience in a place where 
drugs and medicines are compounded or dispensed or a course of instruc- 
tion in a school of pharmacy. Courses in pharmacy are adjusted to 
meet these requirements. 

The course leading to the degree of Ph. C. (pharmaceutical chemist) 
is three years in length. It is "designed more especially for those who 
wish to enter the commercial field of pharmaceutical chemistry or food 
and drug analysis." More advanced instruction in pharmacy is given, 
together with such general studies as sciences and foreign languages. 

The four-year course leading to the degree of B. S. in Pharmacy in- 
cludes a combination of cultural studies and the advanced work in 
pharmacy taken by the candidates for the degree of Ph. C. 

Opportunities for specialized graduate study and research in some 
department of pharmacy are frequently offered in the graduate schools 
of leading universities. 

THE COLLEGE OR SCHOOL OF DENTISTRY. 

The organization of 29 American universities and colleges now includes 
a school of dentistry, which offers to graduates of secondary schools a 
three-year course leading to the degree of D. D. S. or D. M. D. The 
curriculum provides first for a study of those elementary scientific sub- 
jects which form the groundwork of training in medicine: Anatomy, 
chemistry, bacteriology, physiology, and pathology. Instruction accom- 
panied by extended clinical and laboratory practice in operative and 
prosthetic dentistry follows. The clinics of the best American dental 
schools furnish each student ample opportunity for practice in all branches 
of dentistry. 

Although dentistry is a separate profession, and although training for 
it is quite fittingly carried on in a special professional school, neverthe- 
less there is growing recognition of the fact that it is a branch of medical 
science. There has arisen in consequence a tendency to emphasize the 
affiliation of dental and medical education. Seven dental schools are 
now departments of medical schools. One State has already passed a 
law requiring that hereafter all practitioners of dentistry shall hold a 
medical degree. While there seems to be no immediate prospect that 
other States will take the same radical action, there is a very decided 
trend of opinion in the direction of lengthening the course in dentistry 
from three to four years. A number of dental schools are meeting this 
demand for further scientific training by offering postgraduate courses 
14899—22 3 



14 ORGANIZATION OF EDUCATION IN THE UNITED STATES. 

open to holders of degrees in dentistry and to others who have had 
practical experience. 

It is appropriate to call attention to the excellence of American dental 
schools and clinics. The conspicuous success of American practitioners 
of dentistry is without doubt largely due to the splendid facilities for 
training in the profession that have been developed in the United States. 

THE COLLEGE OR SCHOOL OF EDUCATION. 

Among the important contributions which the United States has made 
to professional training may be counted the creation of special schools 
of education. Normal schools organized principally for the training of 
elementary-school teachers have existed for a long time. They owe their 
origin to European experiments in the same direction. But the schools 
of education whose aim is to prepare prospective high-school teachers, 
school principals, supervisors, and superintendents of city school systems 
are relatively new and distinctly American institutions. Their estab- 
lishment has come about because of the evident need of trained teachers 
and directing officers to carry on the work of public secondary education 
and the administration of school systems. With a few exceptions they 
have attained most vigorous growth in the States where the State uni- 
versity occupies a position of educational leadership. 

The typical school of education offers to graduates of secondary schools 
a four-year course leading to the bachelor's degree. The course usually 
combines three distinct elements: General training in the arts and sci- 
ences, specialization in one or two subjects which the candidate proposes 
to teach later, and instruction in the theory and practice of teaching. 

Among the strictly professional subjects emphasis is laid on educa- 
tional psychology, the history and philosophy of education, and the 
organization and management of schools. The best-equipped schools of 
education now provide opportunities also for students to observe skillful 
teaching and for practice teaching under supervision. 

There is a marked tendency toward extending the scholastic range of 
schools of education, and consequently increasing the amount of pro- 
fessional training demanded of secondary-school teachers. The addition 
of a fifth year to the course in education is a manifestation of this ten- 
dency. At the completion of the longer course, the degree of A. M. is 
conferred. In this way the school of education is gradually merging into 
the graduate school. It will probably not be long before the general 
cultural and informational subjects will be relegated to the college of 
letters, and the school of education will advance to the rank of a graduate 
school offering purely professional instruction to college graduates. 
Graduate courses in education leading to the degree of doctor of phi- 
losophy are now commonly offered by the graduate departments of the 
best universities, 

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ORGANIZATION OF EDUCATION IN THE UNITED STATES. 1 5 

THE COLLEGE OR SCHOOL OF LAW. 

English and American legal systenivS differ radically from those of most 
other nations. Because of this fact foreign students will probably not 
be attracted in any large numbers to American law schools for the pur- 
pose of fitting themselves for the immediate practice of their profession 
at home. Nevertheless there is a growing conviction among lawyers 
and jurists that a knowledge both of English common law and the code 
systems of continental Europe and Latin America is very valuable to 
the legal practitioner of any country. The spirit and motives of a country 
are reflected in its laws. An acquaintance with the latter tends to 
broaden international sympathies. It is for this reason, as well as to 
complete the account of the component parts of the American university, 
that the law school is mentioned here. 

THE SCHOOL OR COLLEGE OF MEDICINE. 

No other professional schools connected with American universities 
have made such noteworthy and gratifying advances within recent 
years as the schools of medicine. There have been three conspicuous 
lines of progress: The growth of laboratory equipment through liberal 
State appropriations and private benefactions, the increase in hospital 
facilities, and the raising of standards of admission. As a result of these 
developments the best medical schools of the United States are now 
unsurpassed in physical equipment and demand as thorough prepara- 
tion for entrance and graduation as do those of other leading nations. 

The high standards recommended by the American Medical Asso- 
ciation and put into practice by the more progressive schools of medi- 
cine have been rendered permanent by the subsequent action of numer- 
ous State licensing boards which fix the educational preparation to be 
required of practitioners of medicine in their respective States. Medical 
education has therefore attained a status consonant with the antiquity 
and importance of the profession. 

As a division of the university the medical school now ranks with 
the schools devoted to training for the other traditional callings. 

The typical medical schools of the best universities require for entrance 
a four-year high-school course, including two years of Latin, and two 
years of college work, which must include at least a year each of physics, 
chemistry, and biology, and sufficient German and French to insure a 
reading knowledge of those languages. To such students the medical 
school offers a four-year course, consisting of laboratory, didactic, and 
clinical instruction in the theory and practice of medicine, and leading 
to the degree of M. D. Associated with all high-grade medical schools 
are hospitals, in which medical students study at first hand diseases 
and their treatment and in which they serve as internes. 



1 6 ORGANIZATION OF EDUCATION IN THE UNITED STATES. 

Included in the "ideal standard" set up by the American Medical 
Association is the recommendation that a fifth year be added to the 
medical course, in which the student shall act as interne in a hospital. 
This recommendation has already been adopted by several of the lead- 
ing medical schools of the country. Others, while not including ^the 
year's internship in the medical course, provide ample facilities for their 
graduates to secure this privilege. 

A recent development in medical education has been the establish- 
ment of postgraduate courses in medicine devoted chiefly to advanced 
study and research. As yet there has been no general organization of 
these courses into curricula leading to higher medical degrees. Attention 
should be called, however, to one higher medical degree which has 
already gained recognition. This is doctor of public health. The 
degree is conferred upon holders of the degree of M. D. after one or 
two years of postgraduate study devoted to problems of sanitation and 
community diseases and to special research. 

Most large universities now provide for a six or seven year course, 
combining work in the department of arts and sciences with the course 
in medicine and leading to the two degrees A. B. (or B. S.) and M. D. 

Students from tropical countries will be especially interested in the 
very excellent courses in tropical medicine offered by the medical schools 
of the Tulane University of Louisiana and Harvard University. 

THE GRADUATE SCHOOL,. 

The capstone of the American university is the graduate school of arts 
and sciences. Originally planned to correspond to the faculty of phi- 
losophy of the German university and offering instruction merely in pure 
science and the humanities, the graduate school has far outgrown the first 
conception of its function. The graduate school of the large American 
university now usually organizes into one administrative unit all the 
advanced teaching and all the facilities for original research provided by 
the university in any of its departments. Under this arrangement holders 
of the bachelor's degree who desire to specialize, for example, in engi- 
neering, in medical science, or in pharmacy, as well as in pure science and 
the humanities, enter the graduate school. 

The American graduate school has a double aim. Chronologically, 
the first is to teach to properly prepared students the most advanced and 
specialized phases of the subjects offered by the university. More 
important, however, if second in point of development, is its obligation 
to increase the sum of human knowledge. Research is the lifeblood of 
the graduate school. The graduate school is differentiated from the 
ordinary professional schools by being devoted to the principle of research. 
As a rule, schools of medicine and engineering, for instance, aim primarily 
to pass on to the student a body of knowledge which is already organized 



ORGANIZATION OF EDUCATION IN THE UNITED STATES. 1 7 

and of accepted professional value, and so to train practitioners of already 
standardized professions. The graduate school places first emphasis 
upon the advancement of learning. Its teachers are expected to be 
actively engaged in extending the boundaries of knowledge and to direct 
students in the conduct of investigations. The vitality of the graduate 
school is properly judged by the amount and quality of its creative output. 

Most graduate schools have been established within 25 years. National 
appreciation of the value of research, which has made this last expansion 
of the university possible, is hardly 15 years old; yet the enrollment in 
graduate courses in the United States has increased from 4,340 in 1893 
to 7,911 in 1903, to 14,406 in 1918, and to 15,612 in 1920. 

It is therefore safe to say that the students from abroad will now find 
in the graduate schools of the foremost American universities opportu- 
nities for special training and for research broadly equivalent to those 
provided by the faculties of philosophy and the scientific institutes of the 
universities of Europe. Such students will naturally seek those institu- 
tions which offer the best facilities and which possess the most eminent 
teachers in the particular lines in which they are interested. 

A subordinate function of the graduate school has been the training 
of teachers for higher institutions. Indeed, it is now customary for 
appointing authorities to demand of candidates for higher teaching posi- 
tions a more or less extended period of graduate study. 

The typical American graduate school admits as students only those 
who hold a bachelor's degree from a college or university of recognized 
standing. It confers two orders of degrees, the master's degrees and 
the doctor's degrees. 

To secure a master's degree one year of postgraduate study devoted 
as a rule to not more than three subjects, one of which, called the major 
subject, receives the bulk of the student's attention, is usually required. 
Many universities also demand a thesis embodying the results of a small 
piece of research. 

The minimum period of postgraduate study for a doctor's degree is 
usually three years. The time spent and the number of courses taken, 
however, are of secondary importance. To receive the degree it is 
necessary that the candidate not only demonstrate in examination his 
mastery of his special field but also by means of a dissertation or thesis 
make an original contribution to knowledge in that field. Most univer- 
sities require the dissertation to be published. The examinations are 
both written and oral. In fact, the requirements for the American degree 
of doctor of philosophy parallel closely those proposed by the German 
universities for the same degree. But American universities have 
recently attempted to demand of candidates for the degree a somewhat 
longer scholarly preparation and a more substantial thesis. 



1 8 ORGANIZATION OF EDUCATION IN THE UNITED STATES. 
INDEPENDENT TECHNICAL AND PROFESSIONAL SCHOOLS. 

In addition to the great universities giving instruction in practically 
all the departments of knowledge and including in their organization all 
types of higher professional schools, there are numerous other institu- 
tions of less complex organization. In fact, as has already been stated, 
the university is a comparatively recent creation. Many of these other 
schools, colleges, and institutes antedate the origin of universities. It 
is also true that many kinds of professional training can be quite as 
successfully and often as economically carried on in separate institu- 
tions established for that purpose alone. Some of the foremost training 
schools for engineering, medicine, dentistry', law, theology, and other 
callings are independent institutions not connected with any university. 

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, for example, offers courses 
in the various branches of engineering and applied science. Rensselaer 
Polytechnic Institute is devoted chiefly to civil, electrical, mechanical, 
and chemical engineering. Stevens Institute of Technology gives only 
courses in mechanical engineering. The College of Physicians and 
Surgeons in Baltimore and Jefferson Medical School of Philadelphia are 
not affiliated with universities. Among theological schools the majority 
are independent institutions, as, for example, the Newton Theological 
Institution (Baptist), the Theological Seminary of the General Synod of 
the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the United States, and nearly all 
Catholic theological seminaries. Several States have established from 
the proceeds of the land grants special colleges of agriculture and 
mechanic arts separate from the State university, as, for example, 
the Kansas State Agricultural College, the Iowa State College of Agri- 
culture and Mechanic Arts. 

In range and content the courses given at these independent institu- 
tions are similar to those of the corresponding professional divisions 
of the large universities. Some of the schools of engineering, indeed, 
have become famous throughout the world for the high excellence of 
the work done in one or more departments. 

INDEPENDENT AND DENOMINATIONAL COLLEGES. 

Numerically the most important of the institutions not included in 
the organization of some university are the independent colleges offering 
courses in arts and sciences, the majority of which confer the bachelor's 
degree. They present a wide variety of types and almost as great a 
variety of scholastic standards; nevertheless, certain generalizations can 
be made concerning them. 

As a rule the independent colleges give instruction in a more limited 
range of subjects than are open to candidates for bachelor's degrees 
at the larger universities. For instance, as against the 45 branches 
which the Harvard undergraduate may select, Carleton College offers 



i 



ORGANIZATION OF EDUCATION IN THE UNITED STATES. 1 9 

work in the following: Astronomy, Bible, biology, chemistry, economics, 
education, English, German, geology, Greek, Hebrew, history, Latin, 
mathematics, music, philosophy, physical education, physics, political 
science, public speaking, Romance languages, Scandinavian languages, 
sociology. Williams College in the following: Art, astronomy, biology, 
chemistry, economics, English, geology, German, government and po- 
litical science, Greek, history, Latin, mathematics, military art, philos- 
ophy, physics, physiology and hygiene, public speaking, religion, Romance 
languages. Reed College in the following: Biology, chemistry, classical 
languages, economics, education, English, Germanic languages, Greek, 
history and political science, Latin, mathematics, philosophy, physics, 
psychology, Romance languages, sociology. 

The curricula of these institutions, then, are more nearly comparable 
to those of the French lycee and the German gymnasium and Oberreal- 
schule, most of the studies included being sanctioned by age-long tradi- 
tion as appropriate training for the first degree in arts. 

The test of the excellence of a college, however, is not the multiplicity 
of its ofiferings, but the quality of work done. The stronger colleges, 
perhaps a quarter of the whole number, enforce a standard of accom- 
plishment for the bachelor's degree every whit as high as that maintained 
by the best universities. The universities themselves readily concede 
this. They accept for advanced study the holders of degrees from these 
colleges on the same terms as their own graduates. The foreign stu- 
dent need have no hesitation, therefore, in choosing an independent col- 
lege rather than the collegiate division of some larger university as the 
institution in which to secure the A. B. or B. S., provided he assures him- 
self in advance that the degrees of the college of his choice are valid edu- 
cational currency. Among the colleges recognized by the larger univer- 
sities are, on the one hand, some which oflfer instruction only in the rather 
circumscribed group of studies which have for generations formed the 
basis of the A. B. course, and, on the other, institutions which more 
nearly approximate the scope of university undergraduate departments. 

Probably the most striking difference between the independent colleges 
and the universities is the difference in size, which also involves a profound 
difference in the institutional life. The independent college is commonly 
known as the small college, for the reason that its students usually number 
from I GO to 500. Universities of the type described frequently enroll 
from 1,000 to 5,000 students. The foreign observer may be led to wonder 
why it is that small colleges persist and multiply in a country so liberally 
provided with large institutions, many of them State supported, giving 
the same opportunities for general education. The principal reasons are 
the following : 

The prime mover in the foundation of most American colleges has 
been some religious denomination. The college so founded draws chiefly 
children of members of its denomination, and in a peculiar sense may be 



20 ORGANIZATION OF EDUCATION IN THE UNITED STATES. 

said to serve the denomination, although communicants of other sects 
are, as a rule, freely admitted. Thus there are Methodist colleges, Pres- 
byterian colleges, Catholic colleges, Lutheran colleges, and many more. 
Those who believe that higher education must not only be imbued with 
the spirit of religion, but definitely correlated with a particular religious 
doctrine, and interpreted in terms of that doctrine, generally patronize a 
college of the desired denominational affiliation. Many denominations 
have met and encouraged this tendency by establishing colleges all over 
the land, wherever the denominational membership was large enough to 
give promise of support. It is no unusual thing to find several colleges 
in the same city or located within a few miles of one another in country 
districts each serving a different religious constituency. 

The typical denominational college emphasizes the religious life and 
makes a special effort to create a religious atmosphere. More or less re- 
ligious instruction generally appears in the curriculum. Denominational 
religious services are held daily, and attendance is usually required. 
Religious associations often occupy a prominent place among the social 
organizations which claim part of the student's leisure hours. It will be 
seen that the denominational college makes a very distinctive contribu- 
tion to American higher education. The State university, owing to the 
nature of its support, must be nonsectarian. The large independent 
university, no matter under what auspices it was founded, can hardly 
have such complete denominational polarization. Foreign students of 
strong denominational attachments may well bear these facts in mind 
when selecting a college. 

Neither in the United States nor in other countries is there consensus 
of opinion as to the extent to which sectarian influences and sectarian 
religious teaching should enter into higher education. In the last two 
decades the. tendency has undoubtedly been toward the divorce of higher 
education and sectarianism, a tendency stimulated by the evident success 
of State universities. Consequently the sectarian affiiations of many col- 
leges which started as strictly denominational institutions are all the 
time growing weaker. Some have even renounced their denominational 
connections and have frankly come forth as nonsectarian institutions. 
On the other hand, certain denominational colleges have, perhaps by way 
of protest, reaffirmed still more vigorously their denominational char- 
acter. Several denominations also have been especially active in found- 
ing new institutions. 

The college is coming to be regarded more and more as a local insti- 
tution. It serves a larger area than does a public high school, but still 
the radius from which it draws its students is comparatively short and 
is becoming annually shorter. This is a second reason for the large 
number of independent colleges. The number of persons securing col- 
lege training in proportion to the total population has recently increased 
enormously. 



ORGANIZATION OF EDUCATION IN THE UNITED STATES. 2 1 

A third reason for the persistent vitahty of the independent college 
is the extraordinary influence it has had on the life and ideals of the 
Nation. The American college graduate generally cherishes the memory 
of his "alma mater" with a loyalty only second in intensity to that 
which he bestows on his family and friends. He is on all occasions her 
devoted and partisan champion. If he is an alumnus of a small college 
he is apt to attribute to its influence and training whatever measure of 
success he may have achieved. This generous habit, coupled with the 
fact that the independent colleges actually have furnished the country 
with a surprisingly — one might almost say a disproportionately — large 
number of the national leaders in politics, in the professions, and in 
commerce, has served to intrench the small college in the regard of the 
people. In many quarters it is believed to be the peculiar repository 
of healthy democracy, lofty ideals, and sound intellectual training. In 
consequence, it enjoys a prestige quite equal to that of the larger uni- 
versities. Apparently it will long continue to do so. 

HIGHER EDUCATION OF WOMEN. 

Substantially all of the facilities for advanced and professional train- 
ing which have been described above are available for women. Women 
seldom select certain professions, such as agriculture and engineering, 
from the nature of the demands which these callings make upon physical 
strength. On the other hand, increasingly large numbers of women are 
engaging in law, medicine, dentistry, teaching, and pursuing advanced 
studies in the arts and sciences. 

The higher education of women is carried on both in institutions for 
the female sex alone and in colleges and universities where the sexes are 
educated together. In the East coeducation, as it is called, has not found 
general favor. The older colleges and the college departments of univer- 
sities in this section of the country are usually exclusively for men. 
Beside them numerous colleges for women have been established, offer- 
ing courses leading to the bachelor's and in some cases, even to the 
master's and doctor's degrees. In general, however, the older universi- 
ties like Harvard, Yale, and the University of Pennsylvania, while 
excluding women from the undergraduate departments, admit them 
freely to graduate schools. 

In the Middle West and West coeducation is the accepted educational 
policy. Nearly all colleges and universities are open in all departments 
to women on the same terms as to men. In particular, the State uni- 
versities have been the most prominent exponents of this policy and 
have done much to give it national currency. Special supervision of 
the boarding and rooming accommodations of the women and a certain 
amount of chaperonage in social affairs are enforced. Otherwise per- 
fectly free association between the sexes prevails. The policy of coedu- 



2 2 ORGANIZATION OF EDUCATION IN THE UNITED STATES. 

cation has proved almost universally successful and is now indorsed by 
the great majority of American educators. 

The extent to which women have taken advantage of the higher 
educational opportunities is indicated by the following figures: Total 
enrollment of women in women's colleges, 1893, 12,300; 1903, 16,744; 
1913, 19,142; 1916, 20,638; 1918, 25,495; 1920, 31,769. Total enroll- 
ment of women in coeducational institutions: 1893, 13,058; 1903, 26,990; 
1913-55,564; 1916,69,543; 1918,91,941; 1920,96,908. 

In addition to the coeducational and the separate method of the edu- 
cation of women has also grown up a method which has been denomi- 
nated the coordinate system. It represents the affiliation of a college 
for women with a college for men. Examples of this type of manage- 
ment are Barnard College, incorporated in the educational system of 
Columbia University; Radcliffe College, affiliated with Harvard; H. 
Sophie Newcomb Memorial College, affiliated with Tulane University 
of Louisiana; College for Women, affiliated with Western Reserve 
University; William Smith College, affiliated with Hobart College; 
Westhampton College, affiliated with Richmond University; Jackson 
College, affiliated, with Tufts College; and the Women's College, Brown 
University. The academic relations of these colleges with the universi- 
ties to which they are attached differ somewhat. Under one mode of 
affiliation the teaching in the woman's college is done by the faculty of 
the affiliated university. This plan prevails at Radcliffe. Another 
method is to provide an entirely separate faculty for the woman's college. 
This is the method of Western Reserve University. 

THE SUMMER SCHOOL. 

The academic year is, as a rule, approximately nine months long. 
It usually extends from the middle of September to the middle of June. 
Many universities and colleges now either maintain a special summer 
school during about six weeks of the vacation period or carry on a sum- 
mer session lasting throughout the summer months. Summer schools, 
which generally are confined to the undergraduate and graduate depart- 
ments of arts and sciences, serve two main purposes. They enable 
teachers in elementary and secondary schools to pursue special courses 
of study for professional advancement. They offer opportunities to 
college or university students who have failed to complete all the work 
required in the regular term to make good these deficiencies. In addi- 
tion, summer schools are to some extent patronized by other classes of 
persons. While in the majority of summer schools the courses are planned 
with special reference to the needs of teachers, nevertheless the student 
whose interests are not pedagogical generally finds summer courses in 
most of the subjects ordinarily offered by the institution during the reg- 
ular winter terms. The more advanced courses usually are not given 
in summer. 



ORGANIZATION OF EDUCATION IN THE UNITED STATES. 23 

Summer schools present special attractions to the foreign student. 
If he happens to arrive in the United States in June or early July, he 
may profitably use his time and prepare himself for his later regular 
matriculation by enrolling in a good summer school. Opportunities 
for the study of English are commonly offered. After he has begun his 
collegiate or professional course he may shorten the period of study and 
also learn something of different universities by frequenting summer 
schools. It is possible to complete from a sixth to a quarter of a year's 
work during a summer course. 

SPECIAL RESEARCH FOUNDATIONS. 

American higher education has recently been reenforced by a group 
of special foundations established to further scientific and sociological 
research. Most of these owe their origin to the generosity of a single 
individual of large means. While not educational institutions, these 
foundations have made possible numerous investigations which have not 
only affected educational thought and practice but have also raised the 
prestige of science throughout the United States. They should there- 
fore be reckoned among the scientific resources of the Nation. Promi- 
nent among these institutions are the Russell Sage Foundation, the Car- 
negie Institution, the General Education Board, the Carnegie Founda- 
tion for the Advancement of Teaching, and the Rockefeller Institute for 
Medical Research. 

COiMPARISON OF AMERICAN AND FOREIGN INSTITUTIONS. 

It will probably help the foreign student to adjust himself to educa- 
tional conditions in the United States if his attention is called to the 
correspondences and differences between the principal types of American 
schools, on the one hand, and familiar European and Latin- American 
institutions on the other. 

The most marked differences appear in the time allotted to secondary 
education and the ages at which it is begun in the countries mentioned. 
In fact, the position accorded the secondary school may be said to 
determine to a large extent the character of each country's educational 
system. In France and Germany the elementary and secondary school 
systems are entirely separate. They run along constantly diverging 
lines. It is only possible to transfer from the elementary to the secondary 
school at one or two points, and after the twelfth year not at all. To a 
certain extent the same conditions have prevailed in England also, 
although they have lately been somewhat modified. In all of these 
countries the elementary school has generally been regarded not as a 
place of preparation for the secondary school, but as furnishing a distinct 
and measurably complete scheme of education designed especially for 
the children of the laboring and artisan classes. The secondary school, 
on the other hand, is intended for children of prosperous parents who 



24 ORGANIZATION OF EDUCATION IN THE UNITED STATES. 

plan to fit themselves for the professions or to enter the civil service. 
The original and fundamental distinction between the two systems is a 
social one. 

The figure of "the educational ladder" best expresses the popular 
conception of education in the United States. The schools must be so 
organized that the child of the humblest parents may climb up in them 
and through them to the highest educational advantages. Anything 
else is felt to be undemocratic. The secondary school is therefore 
based on the elementary school and the college on the secondary school. 

The other outstanding peculiarity in the United States plan of educa- 
tional organization, namely, the inclusion of the college as an extra 
link between the secondary school and the university, has been alluded 
to in the brief statement of the historical evolution of the college. 

The elementary schools of the United States and of Europe, not- 
withstanding minor differences, present nearly the same curriculum 
and aim at imparting approximately the same amount of training. 
The elementary school of Latin-American countries, like that of the 
United States and unlike those of Europe, is the regular preparatory 
institution for the secondary school or liceo. But the division line 
between the two institutions comes earlier in Latin America, at an 
age more appropriate for the beginning of secondary education. This, 
however, naturally reduces the range of the elementary curriculum. 

European nations and Latin-American countries are substantially 
agreed as to the purpose and compass of secondary instruction. The 
practices of no two countries are alike in all details, but in general the 
secondary course is made up of languages, ancient and modern; 
mathematics up to or through calculus; the elements of the natural 
sciences; history; the literature of the vernacular; the outlines of 
philosophy and logic. In other words, secondary education is con- 
ceived as properly dealing with knowledge which has general use and 
validity, scientifically arranged and organized to show the casual re- 
lations between facts or phenomena. It includes training in orderly 
and independent methods of study. It aims to sharpen the esthetic 
and moral perceptions. Secondary education concerns itself little 
with the purely empirical; that is more particularly the province of 
elementary training. It prepares for the philosophical or minutely 
specialized pursuit of knowledge, which is the field of higher educa- 
tion. The period of general cultural training of the individual prop- 
erly terminates with the completion of the secondary school course, 
which is fittingly recognized by the bestowal of the bachelor's degree. 
The six, eight, or nine years of secondary instruction in the countries 
mentioned are held to be sufficient for the accomplishment of this 
general purpose. 

The function which is fulfilled in France, Germany, and Latin 
America by the secondary school is shared in the United States by 



ORGANIZATION OF EDUCATION IN THE UNITED STATES. 25 

two institutions — the secondary school and the college. It is gener- 
ally admitted that the American student who has completed a sec- 
ondary school course and two years of a general course in arts or 
sciences at an American college may be ranked with the holder of the 
baccalaureate of the French lycee or the Abiturientenzeugnis of the 
German gymnasium. Those professional schools which demand two 
years of collegiate study for entrance maintain approximately the 
same standards of entrance, then, as the French and German univer- 
sities, which are only open to holders of the two certificates just 
mentioned. 

THE FOREIGNER AT AN AMERICAN UNIVERSITY. 

It is essential that the foreign student who contemplates studying 
at an American college or university should first be fairly fluent in 
the use of English. He should at least know the language well enough 
to be able to read it and to follow lectures given in it. If he does not 
have this knowledge when he arrives in the United States it will prob- 
ably be best for him to spend several months (three or four should 
suffice) studying English under competent instruction before attempt- 
ing to register in a university for either a general or professional course. 

Once having mastered the vernacular sufficiently to make his way 
as a student and to take an intelligent part in the social activities 
of the university community the foreign student will find himself 
accepted as in every sense a full-fledged member of the institution. 
Then it rests with ■ him what his place shall be. If he is agreeable, 
capable, and adaptable he will suffer no handicaps in his relations 
with the natives. On the contrary, he will receive a most cordial 
welcome. 

The only national or Federal agency connected with educational 
interests is — 

THE UNITED STATES BUREAU OF EDUCATION. 

The purposes of the Bureau of Education, as defined in the act estab- 
lishing it, are "to collect statistics and facts showing the condition and 
progress of education in the several States and Territories and to diffuse 
such information respecting the organization and management of 
schools and school systems and methods of teaching as shall aid the 
people of the United States in the establishment and maintenance of 
efficient school systems and otherwise promote the cause of education 
throughout the country." 

The bureau was originally created an independent department by an 
act of Congress approved March 2, 1867, and continued as such until 
July I, 1869, when, according to a provision contained in one of the annual 
appropriation acts, approved July 20, 1868, it was constituted an office 
or bureau in the Department of the Interior. 



2 6 ORGANIZATION OF EDUCATION IN THE UNITED STATES. 

The subject of education is not specifically mentioned in the Constitu- 
tion of the United States. The Federal Government maintains no 
national system of public schools, the establishment, maintenance, and 
control of such schools and school systems being left to the individual 
States. But from the inception of the Republic the Federal Government 
has encouraged education in the several States and made provision for 
schools in its Territories. The necessity of some central agency for the 
collection and study of educational statistics and data was early seen and 
appreciated. 

As will be noted from the foregoing, the bureau is primarily an institu- 
tion for educational research and promotion. The act creating it gives 
it no administrative duties. Such administrative duties as it possesses 
have been subsequently assigned to it. These include (a) the adminis- 
tration of the educational system, medical relief, and reindeer herds for 
the natives of Alaska; and (6) duties connected with the administration 
of the income resulting from the principal obtained by the sale of lands 
granted under the first Morrill Act (July 2, 1862), for the establishment 
of colleges of agriculture and the mechanic arts, an amount approxi- 
mating $1,009,225, and of the Morrill- Nelson fund, which amounts to 
$2,500,000 annually, $50,000 a year going to each State, Hawaii, and 
Porto Rico. The bureau is required to see that the annual income from 
the first fund is at least 5 per cent and that it is expended according to 
the requirements of the first Morrill Act. It must also audit the expendi- 
ture of the $50,000 granted annually for the maintenance of colleges of 
agriculture and the mechanic arts. 

The bureau has two general types of activities: First, those of a more 
or less routine character (called stated or continuing activities) ; and sec- 
ond, the activities of highly trained experts in various fields of education, 
known as the technical staff. Of the first there are seven divisions, as 
follows; Editorial, library, statistics, Alaska, stenographic, mails and files, 
and messenger service. These are under the general direction of the chief 
clerk. 

The technical staff is organized into four divisions under the direction 
of the assistant to the commissioner — higher education, rural schools, 
city schools, and service division. The latter includes physical education 
and school hygiene, industrial education, home economics, commercial 
education, educational legislation, and foreign education. 

The bureau endeavors (i) to serve as a clearing house for accurate and 
comprehensive information in respect to all educational agencies and all 
forms of education in the United States and all foreign countries and to 
disseminate this information among school officers, teachers, students of 
education, and all others definitely interested in any form of educational 
activity; (2) to serve as a clearing house for the best opinions on school 
organization and administration, courses of study, methods of teaching, 
etc.-; (3) to advise legislatures, school officers, teachers, and others engaged 



ORGANIZATION OF EDUCATION IN THE UNITED STATES. 27 

in promoting and directing education; (4) to determine standards of 
measurement in education and to conduct and direct experiments in 
education, etc. 

The bureau reaches the country through its publications and through 
the activities of its speciaHsts in the field. It has made a number of 
valuable surveys of city and State school systems, etc. 

For carrying on the work of the bureau, exclusive of the work in Alaska, 
there are now in the ofllices in Washington 87 people. Of these approxi- 
mately one-third are specialists in the various lines of educational re- 
search and promotion. 

The present Commissioner of Education is Dr. John J. Tigert (June 2, 
192 1, to date). 

o 



